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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23001487">Kittens</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee'>Nadja_Lee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Sentinel (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Animal Instincts, Just Add Kittens, Love, M/M, POV: Blair Sandburg, Reflection, Romance, Short &amp; Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2005-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2005-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:46:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23001487</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair thinks about his life with Jim and their small fur babies.<br/>[Printed in Come To Your Senses 28 in 2005]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Kittens</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>I hold the book I’m reading in my hands, but my eyes are not on the pages.  They’re on Jim, who sits on the sofa across from me. I have to smile softly at his warm expression as he fondly plays with the little kitten in his lap.  Despite his impressive size and muscles, Jim’s amazingly gentle, especially with something small and fragile. It’s hard to say who enjoys the stroking the most, the small black kitten or him.  I swear I can almost hear him purring in pleasure with the small warm bundle in his lap.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When I first moved in with Jim, I never expected that ten years later I would be here sharing a house we’d bought together, with a man who went from being my friend to being my lover…the man I love more than anyone I’ve ever loved in my life.  The connection may be so strong due to our Sentinel/Guide bond, but I’ve given up trying to figure out why our love has remained steady through all these years. Instead I’m just grateful that I’ve found happiness. Every relationship has its ups and downs, and we’ve had ours as well, but deep down I know neither of us ever doubted that we have always loved each other.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Strangely enough, it was the fact that I didn’t become a police officer that started our relationship.  I told Jim I would join one of the other universities in town and gets my doctorate in Anthropology there, using the material from the police station in my dissertation.  I could still help him with cases like I always had. Since I already had so much material, I completed my doctorate one and a half years after I started it, and it was that evening that Jim told me he loved me and I found I had always felt the same; I just hadn’t known what to do about it.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Three years ago, we brought this house and moved out of the loft.  It’s nice to have our own home, complete with a garden and everything.  Jim had teasingly suggested we get a dog to complete the picture, but given Jim’s sometime catlike responses, probably due to his black panther spirit guide, I had been hesitant about the idea.  For example, he doesn’t like the ocean. He’s been able to control his fear of it when he’s had to, but it’s not something he enjoys. So given his sometime feline responses, and knowing how cats and dogs in general dislike each other, I didn’t think owning a dog sounded like the best idea.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>However, I was willing to give it a try, so when we agreed to take care of the neighbour’s dog while she was away on a trip for a week, we had the chance.  Despite the fact that Jim loves animals, the experience proved me right. In the beginning, Jim and the dog got along great, but after four days, the dog set him on edge as if the dog and the panther in Jim both wanted full control of the territory and neither would submit.  We knew then that a dog wasn’t a good addition to our household.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>We found our answer one day when Jim brought a small kitten home, having saved it from a miserable existence on the streets.  Many people, when they see Jim, categorize him on his size and strength, thinking that those things somehow make him unkind and uncaring.  That’s as far from the truth as it can be. Jim’s the perfect gentleman and people’s pain gets to him. Not only people, but animals as well.  I think that being a Sentinel makes him more receptive to animals’ pain, especially catlike beings. He’s one of the gentlest and kindest men towards people in need and people he loves.  He’s fiercely loyal and protective of the weak and abused…and of those who hold a piece of his heart, as I know very well.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>My eyes fall on Jim again as he plays with the kitten and he looks up and meets my eyes, smiling softly at me.  I put down my book and walk to him, softly kissing his lips and curling up on the sofa beside him, my head on his shoulder.  I stroke the kitten with one hand. It’s a lovely evening and the fire is crackling in the fireplace across from us while some soft music is playing.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Despite some of the intolerance our love has been met with, despite everything we’ve had to go through to get here…I don’t regret any of it.  I know this is love and it’s true. Why do people want to make such a big deal out of it? As if he’s read my mind, Jim bows his head and brushes his lips against mine.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Love you,” he says softly, warmly, and I smile fondly.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I love you, too,” I say as I lay my head back down on his shoulder and he puts his arm around me to pull me closer.  The kitten purrs, demanding Jim continue to stroke it with his other hand, which he does, and I smile.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>This wasn’t the future I had expected growing up.  Becoming a professor in anthropology, I had foreseen, but being a profiler consultant for the police, being Jim’s life partner and… With a soft smile and a stroke behind the kitten’s ear, I see that I’m also a father to the six furry ‘children’ Jim has now saved and we have taken in.  This may not be what I had thought I would get, but it’s everything I could ever wish for… Everything I have ever wanted.  </span>
</p>
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